#H360 Najemy. A History of Florence 1200-1575. p.35-62 The Popolo
#H360 The Definitions
In political sense, the term "popolo" referred to non-elite (grandi) citizens, especially large majority of guildsmen who did not belong to the elite families.
"Centre of the popolo's political strength was among the non-elite members of the same major guilds in which merchants and bankers from elite families were enrolled." There were seven major guilds and fourteen minor guilds, and although the popolo needed minor guildsmen's support, it was the major guilds that had more say in the matters. "The social complexity of Florentine politics emerged from this triangular struggle: the guild-based popolo ... saw on one side an elite whose arrogance and power it sought to curtail and on the other an array of artisans and workers it was determined to keep at bay." In the time of prosperity and peace, upper class popolo allied themselves with the elites, and in the time of economic hardship, they sided with the minor guildsmen.
#H360 Guilds
Guilds were created because of "the need to find collective strength ... by those who lacked powerful families," and the need to establish trust in economic transaction. Buyers needed guarantees, and the merchants needed a way to avoid reprisals that could do huge damage to economy, so the merchants voluntarily submitted themselves under the according guild's jurisdiction. Within the guilds, there were consuls and councils, and selected guild members represented the interest of the guildsmen for a period of time. Because of the theoretical and structural similarity between the guilds and city communes, it made it easier for the major guildsmen to play a central role in popular government. Although there were still antagonism within the guilds, the means of solving such situation was not vendetta as within the elite families. "Consent, representation, delegation, accountability, and the supremacy of written statues were the fundamental political assumptions embedded in guilds." However, oftentimes, the professions that were categorized as subdivision of an existing guilds were subject to guild's "harsh regulatory ... without any representation in its political structure."
#H360 Culture and Education: Notaries
By 1300, large majority of Florentines were able to read and write, though to what extant differed greatly. Most could read and write in vernacular, and a few studied Latin. Parents hired private tutors or sent their children to larger classes by more known teachers. There was no guild for the teachers, but the record shows a large number of them were notaries. "Particularly important is the prominence of notaries among Florentine teachers ..., for it was through them that Roman politics, history, law, rhetoric, and moral philosophy became the bedrock of the education and culture of the popolo."
#H360 Religion
Only small number of the upper class had been touched by the heretical ideas, popolo used this fact as a political weapon against the elites. Mendicant orders such as Franciscans and Dominicans were established, but the non-clerical orders were more popular, such as in the case of Order of Penitents. Consisting laypersons, such orders acted as "mendicants' representatives in lay society." Confraternities, though the beginning of confraternities were relatively small such as a gathering for singing hymns, became most influential, as they administered social services and charitable activities.
#H360 Critiques of Elite Misrule
Most of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Florentine writers on politics and history comes from popoli, and their writing criticizes the elites for their pretension of nobility, without actual virtue, and for their factionalism and resulting violence among them.
Grandi랑 popoli 요약 길이가 엄청 차이나니 꼭 내가 grandi를 날린 것 같지만.. 그리고 실제로도 조금은 보충할 구석이 있지만 popoli 쪽이 훨씬 더 복잡했다. grandi에서 Buondelmonti murder에 대해서는 다음 기회에 보충할 것.